3 Charged In Forgery Of Esm Will

April 4, 1985|By Aleen Zimberoff, Business Writer

In the first criminal case following the collapse of Fort Lauderdale-based ESM Government Securities Inc., three men were charged Wednesday with forging the will of Alan R. Novick, who was regarded as the financial brains behind the firm.

Former ESM Chairman Ronald R. Ewton, ex-President Nicholas B. Wallace and Jose L. Gomez, the independent accountant who audited ESM books, were handcuffed and escorted by a trio of deputies to be booked into the Broward County Jail at 2:30 p.m. The State Attorney`s Office charged all three with forgery. Wallace also was charged with one count of perjury in an official proceeding.

A swarm of reporters and TV cameramen were staked out in the lobby of the Broward courthouse for much of the afternoon. As the elevator doors opened at a few minutes after 2 p.m., about 25 journalists and onlookers crowded around the three defendants, who refused any comment.

The men, who wore conservative business suits, stood out in contrast to the people milling around the booking room, many of whom were barefoot and in shorts.

``The evidence indicates the three defendants, while acting together, falsely made, forged or counterfeited the will of Alan Novick that was presented in court,`` Assistant State Attorney Martin Jaffe said Wednesday. ``The investigation into the will has been completed, but we are merely at the beginning of an overall investigation into ESM.``

Both Ewton, 42, and Wallace, 43, were signatories to the purported will. When questioned as to Gomez`s role in the forgery, Jaffe said that any action that aids in the fabrication of a will is considered forgery.

The charges are third-degree felonies that carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The arraignment and trial dates have not yet been set.

Ewton and Gomez each posted $5,000 bail while Wallace put up $10,000 bail.

The attorneys for Gomez and Ewton said their clients would plead innocent. Wallace`s attorney said his client will ``make an appropriate plea at an appropriate time.``

Novick, 44, who had been ESM`s chief financial officer, died of an apparent heart attack on Nov. 23, 1984 while working in ESM`s offices at 1512 E. Broward Blvd.

Five days later, Russell E. Carlisle, attorney for the estate, filed a document stating that Novick died without a will. Novick`s widow, Sonya, signed the document.

But on Dec. 27, a document that bore Novick`s purported signature was filed with the probate court clerk`s office.

Under its terms, Sonya Novick was to inherit all the assets of the estate, which court records show were valued at well over a million dollars. Without a will, state law specifies that the assets would be split, with the widow getting half the estate and her three children the other half.

Jaffe declined comment on whether Sonya Novick was cooperating with the State Attorney`s Office or was a subject of their investigation.

During a court hearing last month, Carlisle said the legitimacy of the will first came into question on March 7 when Sonya Novick told him ``something`` about the document.

That same afternoon Carlisle told Broward Circuit Judge William Clayton Johnson what the widow had told him. Johnson then scheduled a hearing for March 20 to determine the legitimacy of the purported will.

During that hearing, Carlisle took the witness stand but was prevented from repeating what he had told Johnson when lawyers representing Ewton and Wallace objected.

Johnson threw out the purported will anyway following testimony by handwriting expert Linda Hart that the document ``had every single characterisic that might be associated with any forgery.`` Hart told the court that Novick`s signature had been written over four times with ballpoint pens and felt markers.

ESM, a little-known securities dealer, closed its doors March 4 owing customers $315 million more than it can pay.

The trustee for bankrupt ESM, attorney Thomas Tew of Miami, has charged that ESM officers committed ``the most abusive corporate raping that I have ever seen.``

Testifying Tuesday in Washington before a congressional subcommittee investigating the ESM collapse, Tew said ESM executives bought themselves expensive homes, cars and yachts and that Novick purchased a $78,000 dog -- even though the firm was insolvent.

Court records show that Ewton made nearly a million dollars in salary in 1983, Wallace was paid $516,449.34 and Novick made $897,880.69.

After Novick`s death, court records show, Equitable Life Assurance Society paid a death benefit of $6.4 million, of which more than $5 million went to ESM.